9781422269657

ALFA ROMEO: A LEGACY FROM MILAN BENTLEY: THE BEST IN ITS CLASS MASERATI: ITALIAN STYLE AND PERFORMANCE PORSCHE: THE ULTIMATE SPEED MACHINE RANGE ROVER: THE ULTIMATE IN LUXURY ROLLS-ROYCE: INNOVATION AND ASPIRATION TESLA: THE FEELING IS ELECTRIC

Carlie Lawson

MASON CREST M I A M I

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CONTENTS

Introduction .....................................................................6 Chapter 1: Alfa Romeo Hits the Road .............................13 Chapter 2: Becoming Racing Legends ............................35 Chapter 3: Unsure Existence: Corporation or Government Entity .......................................61 Chapter 4: New Models for a New Millennium ................73 Series Glossary of Key Terms ..........................................92 Further Reading & Internet Resources.............................93 Index ..............................................................................94 Author’s Biography and Credits ......................................96 KEY ICONS TO LOOK FOR: Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Educational Videos: Readers can view videos by scanning our QR codes, providing them with additional educational content to supplement the text. Examples include news coverage, moments in

history, speeches, iconic sports moments, and much more! Series Glossary of Key Terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains terminology used throughout this series. Words found here increase the reader’s ability to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field.

I ronically, the man who founded what became Alfa Romeo and envisioned an automotive revolution neither drove nor enjoyed riding in motorcars. Draftsman and engineer Pierre Alexandre Darracq preferred bicycles as his own mode of transport but relished design challenges. That set him upon the many challenges available to designers of early automotives.

An early model from Darracq—a 9 CV single cylinder car from 1902.

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Alfa Romeo: A Legacy from Milan

A Brilliant Engineer Is Born Originally from France, Darracq (pronounced like the English first name Derrick) came into this world on November 10, 1855, in Bordeaux, France. History notes little about his family. His parents both belonged to the indigenous ethnic group known as Basque, comprising the Native Italians and Native French tribes the Vascones and Aquitanians. The Basque people populate an area that spans from the western tip of the Pyrenees along the coast of the Bay of Biscay through north-central Spain

Pierre Alexandre Darracq (1855–1931).

and southwestern France. They share a common language, culture, and genetic ancestry. During the time of his birth, the Basque nationalist movement had begun, fueled by Spanish laws passed in 1839 that infringed on the indigenous people’s institutions and governing. Reared in the wine countryside of Bordeaux, Darracq studied drafting and avoided politics. After he completed his drafting internship at Tarbes Arsenal, he worked to amass design experience. While we know little about his earliest years as an engineer, at age 34 he worked at Hurtu-Hautin & Diligeo, a manufacturing firm that produced typewriters and sewing machines. While he was in that position, one of Darracq’s designs won a gold medal at the 1889 Paris Exhibition.

Introduction

7

A 1908 Darracq 8-10 HP car.

Gladiator Cycle Company Darracq’s hard work had paid off, and by 1891 he had amassed the funds to found his own company, the Gladiator Cycle Company, partnering with Jean Aucoc. Gladiator took a key role in the production of Millet motorized bicycles. During that time, Darracq developed an interest in automotives and started work on his first electric car designs. He produced a few electric cars and then sold Gladiator Cycle in 1896 to Adolphe Clément-Bayard. The man who loved bicycles turned around and founded a second company in 1897, A. Darracq et Cie, later rebranded to Automobiles Darracq.

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Alfa Romeo: A Legacy from Milan

A. Darracq et Cie (Automobiles Darracq) Darracq’s auto company became one of the first to mass-produce vehicles. His manufacturing plant at Suresnes, France, made bicycle parts, tricycles, motorcycles, and quadricycles. He had retained his license to produce Millet motor bicycles, which he powered with five-cylinder rotary engines. In 1898, he obtained a license to build Léon Bollée voiturettes . Voiturettes, the French word for miniature automobiles, typically feature three tires, although in the opposite order of a trike: two in front and one in the rear. He still did not drive, so Darracq’s cars proved theoretical in design. His first round of Léon Bollée voiturettes incurred a loss of $12,500, because his changes to the design introduced steering problems, a quirky five-speed belt drive, and a crude hot tube ignition. Darracq learned from his mistake and immediately turned to a more experienced automotive engineer to design the company’s next project. Engineer Paul Ribeyrolles, a graduate of Chalons-sur Marne’s Arts et Métiers College, designed for Automobiles Darracq an internal combustion engine vehicle in 1900. The voiture legére , or light cart, featured a 6.5 horsepower engine with a 785 cc displacement. It offered a shaft drive and three-speed column gears. Darracq sold 100 of the vehicles and drew the interest of Adam Opel. A Partnership with Opel and a Racing Start In 1901, Darracq and Opel founded a planned strategic partnership to jointly produce vehicles to sell in Germany under the brand name Opel Darracq. Each engineer brought to the table a valuable innovation—Opel’s vehicle body design and Darracq’s chassis design. The Opel Darracq vehicles used the best of both companies with a two-cylinder engine. Darracq’s interest in automobiles grew, and although he still avoided learning to drive one, he branched out into building race cars under the Automobiles Darracq brand. He even founded a

Introduction

9

driving school for aspiring race car drivers. His race cars quickly produced wins. Henri Farman won the light car class of the 1901 Grand Prix de Pau in a Darracq, and the Nice-Salon-Nice race in the Voiturette class the same year. Opel Darracqs proved so popular that by 1903, the joint project offered four vehicle models. Consumers could choose from a 1.1 liter single engine design, a 1.3-liter engine, a 1.9-liter twin cam

Darracq’s famous Flying Fifteen was a huge success, cornering ten percent of the French automobile market.

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Alfa Romeo: A Legacy from Milan

design, or a 3.8-liter four. The growing auto line drew corporate interest, too, and Darracq sold his company to a British financial group the same year. The group only wanted financial involvement, though, and named Alexandre Darracq as the CEO. Under the new owners, Darracq amended his essential design in 1904, switching to pressed steel for the chassis instead of flitch plated wood. The company introduced its Flying Fifteen, which

featured a chassis crafted from a single steel sheet. Automobiles Darracq Developments

The Flying Fifteen led Automobiles Darracq to capture a 10 percent share of the French automotive market. Still, Darracq had lost essential control to the British, who gradually wanted more say in vehicle design. He left Automobile Darracq to cofound Società Anonima Italiana Darracq (S.A.I.D.) in 1906 with a group of Italian investors led by Cavaliere Ugo Stella, a Milanese aristocrat.

Introduction

11

The A.L.F.A. 24 HP was the first car made by Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (A.L.F.A.) in 1910.

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Alfa Romeo: A Legacy from Milan

ALFA ROMEO HITS THE ROAD The Formation of A.L.F.A.

Of course, Alfa Romeo didn’t die there. Ugo Stella and his Italian co investors chose to rebrand with a name that divested them from Darracq on the surface. He remained in business with them as a designer. In 1909, S.A.I.D. ended, and the same group of gentlemen founded a new manufacturing firm called Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (A.L.F.A.), with Stella as its chairman, in 1909. The Italians shortened the brand’s lengthy name to the nickname Alfa (pronounced like the word alpha ) from its abbreviation. We’ll get to where the Romeo (pronounced "Ro-may-oh") came from in 1915. The company went right to work creating amazing vehicles. 24 HP (1910) In 1910, the automaker released its first auto, the 24 HP, the brainchild of engineer Giuseppe Merosi. The road car featured a 4.1 liter four-cylinder engine and a single drive shaft. With a top speed of 62 miles per hour, it suited those who enjoyed taking their family for a Sunday drive in the countryside. In this case, the model name came from the horsepower rating of the engine. In the early 1900s,

Alfa Romeo Hits the Road

13

A 1911 A.L.F.A. 15 HP Corsa. The 15 HP was available in two types of body, the torpedo and sedan.

automakers used this naming convention frequently. The 24 HP became the first vehicle developed at the Milan Portello plant. Eventually, Alfa developed a version for racing, but it didn’t go down in history as one of its fastest cars. Despite his continued inclusion in the business, Darracq no longer wanted to develop automobiles. His love of rotary engines had become an issue since he stubbornly refused to update designs. Other engine options had already proven more dependable and quicker. Tiring of fighting about designs, he sold his stock in the company in 1913 to British investor Owen Clegg, who chose Paris as his headquarters. Clegg led the redesign of the Suresnes factory, so it could mass- produce vehicles. By 1914, his remodeled manufacturing plant employed 12,000 individuals who produced 14 cars per day. As the new Managing Director of Alfa and a vehicle designer, Clegg chose to nearly copy his own design, Rover Twelve, as the new

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Alfa Romeo: A Legacy from Milan

vehicle for Alfa. When introduced, it carried both men’s names officially, although history shortened it to the Darracq 16HP from the Clegg-Darracq 16 HP. The new vehicle also came in a 12 HP version with a 2.1-liter engine. Alexandre Darracq never designed another vehicle. Instead, he pivoted career interests, purchasing first Casino Barriere de Deauville (the Casino in Deauville, France), a popular tourist spot on the French coast of the English Channel. Following the close of World War I on November 11, 1918, he thought he would retire. After

The A.L.F.A 40/60 HP was a race car manufactured in 1913.

Alfa Romeo Hits the Road

15

he moved to the French Riviera, he found that he disliked retirement, though. Darracq joined a group of Belgian investors in purchasing the Hotel Negresco, a luxury hotel in Nice, France. He managed his interests in the hotel from his home in Monte Carlo, Monaco, where he died in 1931. Clegg pushed forward with new designs, and a heyday of what we now call Alfa Romeos began. Although you might spot a classic Alfa Romeo you would love to own, in its earliest years, the auto brand still made many cars by hand, which meant that many of its most collectible cars came in limited releases. In some cases, Alfa Romeo only made one; in other cases, as many as ten of a car model might exist.

The Alfa Romeo 20/30 HP ES was manufactured between 1914 and 1922.

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Alfa Romeo: A Legacy from Milan